<p><span style="line-height: 20.8px;">The <a href="http://jme.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/03/30/jme.tjw023" target="_blank">Journal of Medical Entomology&nbsp;(JME) </a>show</span>&nbsp;head lice have developed resistance to two types of common over the counter insecticide treatments for lice infestation.</p>

<p>The treatments don&#39;t usually kill all the lice, so survivors can develop immunity. The study shows that 98% of head lice have developed resistance.</p>

<p>&quot;This newly published data supports what we&#39;ve been seeing in our offices and clinics: an increase in treatment-resistant super lice,&quot; said Chris Belcher, M.D., Peyton Manning Children&#39;s Hospital at St. Vincent, Indianapolis, IN.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&quot;It&#39;s important that parents contact a clinician if they suspect their child has head lice. There are effective, non-pyrethrin, non-pyrethroid-based prescription agents that can be used if treatment with over-the-counter products&nbsp;has been unsuccessful.&quot;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The report claimed that misuse of the treatments has contributed to the increase in resistance with&nbsp;up to 69 percent of people admitting&nbsp;&#39;using more than the suggested dose in an attempt to increase the effectiveness of the treatment&#39;.</p>

<p>Andrew Hennessy of Hair Experts says there are a lot of misconceptions about lice.&nbsp;&quot;What we don&#39;t have in Ireland, and we desperately need, are policies in relation to this in schools, and then proper education,&quot; he told <a href="http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/head-lice-now-almost-immune-to-treatment-parents-warned-748436.html" target="_blank">Breaking News.ie.</a></p>

<p>&quot;So it&#39;s kind of a two-stage process: It&#39;s education about lice and how the spread properly - they don&#39;t jump, they don&#39;t hop or fly, so it&#39;s head-to-head contact.</p>

<p>&quot;It&#39;s that type of information that need to be spread - as we say: Spread the word, not the problem.&quot;</p>

<p>&quot;Detection is the key,&quot; he added.</p>

<p><strong>Top Five Tips</strong></p>

<ol>
	<li>Keep longer hair tied up.</li>
	<li>One method that a lot of parents are now using is the&nbsp;<a href="http://patient.info/health/wet-combing-treatment-for-head-lice" target="_blank">&ldquo;conditioner and comb&rdquo;</a>&nbsp;method.&nbsp;You simply&nbsp;apply&nbsp;conditioner to the hair and&nbsp;any adult lice present will be &ldquo;paralysed&rdquo; and can then be removed with a&nbsp;lice comb.&nbsp;Repeat every four days to ensure all remaining bugs and eggs are removed.</li>
	<li>Check hair regularly. Just because you sorted the problem last weekend does not mean a new infestation didn&#39;t start this week.</li>
	<li>A lot of parents swear by tea tree oil as a preventative - rub a little behind the ears and back of the neck every morning&nbsp;</li>
	<li>If all else fails, shave their heads!</li>
</ol>

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